Got most of the main joints welded up. Let everything cool to room temp. and removed the clamps. That baby stayed as flat as an Iowa cornfield! Took her off the table, rolled the front subframe over, and clamped it in place. Fits like a glove. Everything actually looks like it lines up and is is equa-distant this time. Like I've said before, we do it right, 'cause we do it twice... I'm really happy with how it lines up. I'll drill a couple of holes in the two 1-1/4 tubes that will be mating the lower chassis to the subframe for now, so I can pull the whole subframe off until it is all rebuilt and ready for final assembly. Then I'll weld her up solid. Looks like I end up with a 93" wheelbase.I've also been thinking about the accessories. For about $350.00, March has a nice pulley setup for just the alternator and water pump. Keeps the alternator about level with the valve covers. Lets me lose the power steering pump, a/c compressor pulley, and the air pump. I may still need an air pump to technically pass inspection, but I can pick up an electric one from an LT-1 car. It is still cheaper than getting the a/c delete pulley and smog pump delete pulley (I believe they are the same part #), and really tightens things up at the front of the engine, without going through any custom fabrication that may or may not work right, and will save a bunch of time. I do believe we are back in the game!

If you are copying the vette U/C/A mounting surface, i.e. inboard/outboard camber, it should be 4*30" from vert. when finished. Your crossmember is probably almost a degree off, to compensate for deflection when bolted down to the vette siderails. Dave W

If you are copying the vette U/C/A mounting surface, i.e. inboard/outboard camber, it should be 4*30" from vert. when finished. Your crossmember is probably almost a degree off, to compensate for deflection when bolted down to the vette siderails. Dave W

Thanks for the input Dave. In the pics. the cross member had rotated backwards. At that point I was just checking upper rail clearance and wheelbase. Tonight I'll line everything up and make sure the cross member is set properly, and tack it temporarily to see what other bracing I can do to tie in the cradle.

Geez, where the heck does the time go sometimes! Progress has been a bit slow, overwhelmed with work (which now occupies a majority of my garage). Here I thought, "Hey, with the shop being up here, I'll have at least a bit more time to work on the car.." Wrong. Less time than ever. However, there is progress, however little or slow, and that is what matters. Got the chassis sitting on all fours, temporarily, to see where everything ended up. I'm glad I started over after the "Tools" debacle. The chassis is dead straight and square. The first week in August, the Wife had gotten a hotel down in Louisvillle for the NSRA Street Rod Nationals for our 30th. Been trying to get to there for ten years. If you are a car guy, this is absolute heaven. If you are an impulse buyer, leave your wallet at home.....I still have whiplash from all of the gorgeous cars. Most of them privately built, but there was everything from the typical Rat Rods up to multi-hundred thousand dollar pro builds. I think this years attendance was north of 10,000 cars. It gave me a renewed vigor for keeping after the LoCost. So much so, that I bought one of those injection molded plastic blocks for the SBC. Got my pulley set from March. Water pump, alternator, and (if I need it) power steering pump. Wilwood put on an exceptional presentation on brake systems. I missed the one that Detroit Speed did on suspensions. We were so overwhelmed with the place, I lost track of time, and missed out. The place was immaculate too. What a venue. Anyway, got back, the plastic block and pulleys arrived a week later. Put them to good use, and started setting the engine and trans again. I can't tell you how nice it was to be able to just move it around at will. Bolted the rear batwing into position, and put the hangar bolts in for the rear transverse leaf spring. The tail sits at 6" ride height, right where I want it, but obviously once weight is added, she will drop. The hangars are adjustable, so that is not a problem. The only Issue I see with using that spring now, is that if the car does not sit down a fair amount, so I HAVE to adjust the hangars, the ends of the springs may be lower than the scrub line. No bueno! If that turns out to be the case, I had a nice conversation with the folks at Ride Tech about coilovers while at the NSRA event. I'm going to add an upper mount to the chassis for them just in case. There are kits to reinforce the lower shock mount for the C4 Corvettes and utilize the original lower shock mount. Up front, I clamped the two crossmembers together. It sits at about 10" right now, since there is no weight on the front transverse leaf. Over the next couple of weeks I'll get the engine and trans mounts in, then I can drop the 'ol L-98 lump in place, and see if that makes her sit close to the proper ride height. If the front sits too high without the weight of the body and stuff from the C4, or too low, I'll have to go with coilovers. No adjustability there, unfortunately. Now, somehow I ended up with a 98" wheelbase. I had figured it at 96", which is what the original C4's were. I know I picked up an inch when I located the rear. I moved it back an inch to get a bit more room in the cockpit, and also clear the rear crossmember. The other inch, however....That extra inch up front actually works out ok too, as with the Haynes nosecone dimensions, it should sit on there like it was made for it, so I'm not going to worry about the longer wheelbase. I'll have to get a nosecone ordered from Jack shortly to be sure. I also set the scuttle hoops in place, and took a line down to where the top of the nosecone will be. Looks like I'll have about 3/8" clearance to the hood. May get that sucker under the bonnet after all! If not, she'll be a "Shaker", like the old Mopars and Mustangs had.

Good weekend, all in all. Taught a welding seminar for a group of guys up in New York State, at the Camp the Methodist Church has up by Hancock, NY, next to my Fathers place on Saturday. Got home this afternoon and figured I'd have a little time to spend on the car. Had to tweak the rear suspension 1/8" to the passenger side to even things up. Done. Raised rear transverse leaf spring about 3/4" by flipping the spacers and reinstalling clamps to rear. Still too low. I removed the lower stock bushings and just used a washer. ...and now I realize something. I don't think I CAN use the transverse leaf. The rate of the spring should come in with the spring just below level with the rear. With the spring arched in its current position, even with all the weight that will be on it, I don't see that spring compressing much more that a 1/4 of the way to level. It'll be a very soft spring until the back wheels are about the height of my shoulders....then the rate will kick in. Looks like coilovers it is! At least I can use the current setup to set the car up, and buy the shocks down the road. I'm looking at the RideTech units, 6.9" stroke. About 4" of compression, 3" of droop. I can figure what spring rate once everything else is in place. Same will go for the front. That puts that issue to bed. On to the next task.... Set final engine position and angle, weld engine mounts and transmission mounts in place.

So today was an "indirect" locost kind of a day. When I moved my shop up to the house, one of the things I inherited was a Do-All C4 bandsaw. Great saw, but it was unfortunately a 3 phase unit. We only had single phase at the shop, so we ran it off of a phase converter. I inherited that too. More complexity, more floor space taken up, more noise. They wanted upwards of five or six hundred dollars for the single phase motor that fit the saw. A couple of weeks ago, I found one on Amazon for about $250. Grabbed that sucker. Installed it this afternoon. Nice and quiet by comparison, and only had to change one wire in the control box at the contactor to feed everything else properly (transformer for light and coolant pump), start / stop circuit. I'm a happy camper.

In actual locost news, I decided to be a bit more conservative on the amount the pan that holds the black stuff hangs below the frame. I have it set at 1.5" below the frame now, but I'm running 6.5" on my ride height. I'll cross the hood clearance issue when we get that far. The shifter ends up just about perfect with the engine set where it currently resides, without having to bring it any further back and encroach on my foot space. Again, I am a happy camper.

That's great about your bandsaw. I don't know what I'd do without mine. It's a nice, Taiwanese, Do-All wanna be, but with a sealed, single phase, 220V, digital motor and electronic controls. I use it just about every work day in the garage.

Cheers,

_________________Damn! That front slip angle is way too large and the Ackerman is just a muddle.

Well, it's been a true LABOR day weekend. Spent the last three days in the Man Cave. Sold some equipment that I know I'll never use again, a truckload of what really amounts to junk, and got a bunch of space back in the Garage. Also spent a bunch of time on the car. Analysis Paralysis is over! Got the transmission tunnel pretty much in place. Shifted the engine and trans over about an inch to gain some clearance for the shifter and linkages, without giving up any passenger space. Figured out the support bracket (Sorry, JD) for the rear center section. Figured out two options on the fuel tank. I can get a pre-made tank that sits over the batwing for about $250.00 30 w x 17d x 7h. This way, no storage. I can possibly get the same tank on edge, between the rear and the back of the boot. Won't know until I get the boot made up. Or, I can fabricate one slightly smaller if I need to to get it between the rear and the boot. That way I have some storage. First two are 15 gallon tanks, third maybe a bit less. Almost had a stroke when I looked down over the radius rods, and realized that they were going to hit the mount for the batwing. 1-1/2" clearance above, and 3-4 inches of travel. Not gonna fly. Then remembered that I'm replacing the factory radius rods with sperical ends, that are narrower than the bushed factory units so I can adjust the Anti-Squat. Looks like they will clear fine. It's good to be making progress again. Pictures to follow.

Couldn't stop today! Went ahead and got the steering column located. Set the rear hoop for the scuttle. Will need to modify the forward hoop to match. Dropped one of the seat cushions in to see how it felt. Position feels good. There is actually more than enough leg room. In fact, the firewall ends up a bit far forward for the pedals. I may end up doing what Yohan did, and move the pedal location further back into the driver compartment. The added benefit to that is that it gives about another two inches of width to space the pedals. Also, I think I may have dropped the two tubes that are next to the seats a bit too much. Sitting on the seat cushion, my hip and leg are flush with the tube! The seat is about two inches high right now, sitting on a piece of plywood on top of the rails. I'll wait and see when I get a couple of support tubes in place and drop the cushion back in, but I think I'm probably going to have to raise those two tubes. From the pictures I've seen of the Catering Vans, the low point of those tubes look like they are about mid waist in height. Anyone that has dropped those two tubes, please feel free to chime in on how much you dropped them.

A little more time this morning. Sat in the seat, and decided that the steering column really was still a bit high, With the tilt down in a good position, it felt like I was hanging on the steering wheel. Dropped it another inch, moved the column forward as far as I could without interfering with the tilt mechanism, and again had a seat. Made it a wee bit tighter to get in and out, but with the tilt down, now it felt like a sports car. Instrument cluster still fits, so all is good.

I wonder if your stock steering column can be adapted to take a quick release wheel? That would help a lot. I found there wasn't a way to use a larger sedan-type wheel in my case and still have a graceful entry and exit. It restricted my thighs as I tried to get in and out. Your experience may be different, of course.

Cheers,

_________________Damn! That front slip angle is way too large and the Ackerman is just a muddle.

I wonder if your stock steering column can be adapted to take a quick release wheel? That would help a lot. I found there wasn't a way to use a larger sedan-type wheel in my case and still have a graceful entry and exit. It restricted my thighs as I tried to get in and out. Your experience may be different, of course.

Cheers,

I have a Grant that is about 1" smaller in diameter for the final assembly. They do offer a quick release. The problem is, in New Jersey it is Verboten to have a quick release on any street driven vehicle. I plan on getting the car through the safety inspection and titled / registered before making that change. As it is, I can get in and out, albeit with a bit of contorting and twisting!

I ordered eight of the high misalignment, teflon lined spherical end joints that qa1 makes for my new dog bones. They were ordered before labor day, and were supposed to arrive shortly after labor day. First package shows up, torn, supposedly had two joints in it, only had one. Plus, where the hell are the other six. Contacted Amazon, to cancel the order. Two more showed up yesterday. That's three.That's what I get trying to use up some of the credits my wife has built up on Amazon. They were three bucks more each, but they were paid for. Should have just ordered them from Speedway like I was going to.....Sheeesh! So I shifted gears a bit, and figured I'd get some idea on my dashboard. I'm happy with the scuttle height, angle, etc. now. I ordered a piece of plexiglass from McMaster. I'll use it as a template, and then for a backer when I get the Carbon Fiber for final assembly. I had hoped for a shorter dash panel, kind of like the Catering hams, but the Gauges won't co-operate! Lets see, taller dash, or spend $600.00 or more for new gauges.....Looks like we're gonna have a bit taller dash. At least I have enough room for my cup holders. I need my caffeine while out cruising!

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